Project information

Art Therapy for Children's Cancer Ward

To fund the Ward 2 Art Therapy project which uses art materials to draw verbal and non-verbal communication from children as they go through treatment for cancer. Our art therapists guide them to express themselves through different art mediums such as drawing, painting or clay modelling.

Charity information: The Teapot Trust

Need

Children in hospital who are receiving treatment for cancer usually also have accompanying emotional and physical challenges. They may experience feelings of anger and frustration; anxiety over the future; loss of self-esteem; have body image issues and suffer difficulties with communication, social or physical skills.

Solution

Our art therapists guide the children to express themselves through different art mediums. As they grow more confident with their skills, they find that more of what they are trying to cope with ends up on the canvas, on in clay form. Art therapy is proven to be an extremely effective way to deal with many issues from physical pain to emotional distress.

What success will look like

Impact

Improve the mental health, happiness and wellbeing for over 70 children each year. Success is measured through positive feedback from the children and their families, and from the hospital staff, in reducing anxiety, improving mental health and increased cooperation with others.

Risk

1. Risk of infection in hospital wards
All our Art Therapists are fully trained in NHS policies and procedures so are fully trained on things such as infection control, and operate in the same way as the clinical team.
2. Risk of the scheduled art therapist being unavailable for work.
We have a small pool of art therapists trained in this type of work so can call on others in the pool to cover at short notice.

Reporting

We send letters along with our twice-yearly newsletters to the relevant funders explaining what their funding has helped us to achieve. Where possible, we try to include a case study (anonymised).

Current Funding / Pledges

Location

Royal Hospital for Sick Children Edinburgh ('Sick Kids') is the main children's hospital serving Edinburgh, the Lothians, Fife and the Borders.
It provides a comprehensive range of dedicated children's services, including its own accident and emergency department, and has been caring for children and young people for over 150 years.

Beneficiaries

Any child who is admitted to the Children's Oncology Ward and who is too ill to return home at weekends will be able to benefit from our Saturday art therapy group. Our art therapists will work with, on average, 5 children each week, often involving the wider family group if visiting.

Why Us?

Our models of medical art therapy are proven to reduce anxiety, encourage self-expression, encourage resilience and can be used by clinicians as a ‘communication tool/icebreaker’. The demand for the Teapot Trust services continues to grow year on year since we began in 2010. We deliver a year-round service rather than one off projects, which enables us to building strong relationships with the patients, their families and the hospital staff.